Improvement in cleansing and separating galvanized nails



W. BLAKE;l

CLEANING AND SEPARATING GALVANIZED NAILS.

Patented Aug. 21, 1860.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BLAKE, :OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLEANSING AND SEPARATING GALVANIZED NAILS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 29,664, dated Augut 21, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BLAKE, of Boston,in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful mode or process of cleansing and separating nails or other articles after having been galvanized or coated with Zinc; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following' specification, the accompanying drawings serving to illustrate the apparatus adopted in carrying out `my said invention.

Figure l is a top view, Fig. 2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a vertical section, of it.

The usual process of galvanizing or coating nails with zinc consists, mainly, in immersing them in a bath of meltedzinc after they may have been subjected to one of an acid solution.

For dipping the nails in zinc and for removing t-hem therefrom a dipper having holes in its bottom and sides is employed.

In the common process of separating the nails from one another and effecting the removal of the surplus zinc and oxide of zinc it is customary for the workman to give to the dipper on its removal from the bath a sudden movement back and forth, and next empty the mass of nails on a screen. This process has been found not sufficiently effective, and therefore I have invented one more useful and advantageous, the same beinf,r thus described:

In carrying out my invention I employ the action of gravitation and a slab or broad surface to effect such a concussion of the mass of nails as Will not only separate them from one another, but from the surplus zinc. The said slab or surface I place at an inclination of about forty-live degrees to the horizon andin a bath of Water, making use of such bath as one of the essentials of my invention. Over the inclined plane or slab I place an open tube havinga Haring or funnel-shaped mouth. Such tube I generally make about fifteen feet in length, nine inches in diameter, and open at each end.

In the drawings,A exhibits'the tube, B the inclined slab or plane, and C the bath or reservoir of water. Immediately after removing the mass of nails from the zinc bath or furnace the workman should give them a sudden shake and pour them into the upper part of the tube A, so asto cause them to fall through the same and upon the inclined plane B. The concussion produced by the impact of the nails on the plane and against each other will separate them from one another and the surplus zinc, the inclination of the plane causing the Whole to be deposited in the Water, whereby the zinc on the nails, as well as that separated from them, will at once be hardened.

I would remark that the part of the inclined plane on which 'the mass of nails is alloyved to fall should be entirely or nearly out of the water, in order that the separation of the nails may take place before they may enter the water; otherwise the nails would be likely to adhere together.

My process is applicable to other small articles When coated in masses with zinc or other metal easily oxidizable while in a heated state.

I claim- 1.l My mode or process, substantially as described, of treating galvanized vor zinc-coated nails on their removal in mass from the coating bath or furnace, such process involving the use of gravitation, (or a tube,) an inclined plane or slab, and a water-bath, in manner specified.`

2. The combination and arrangement of the tube, the inclined plane, and the waterbath, for the purpose specified.

F. P. HALE, J r., N. G. LEVI. 

